Second Colour Options

Seeing as my linocut print will be black and white, I am adding colour with my second ink. I have not decided what colour to use yet but I printed out some small versions of my original ink drawings to draw over them and see where it would be most effective for colour to be applied. The colours I have used on these tests are nothing to do with the final colours I will use in my prints, I have just used different colours here to distinguish between the four different sets. 

PURPLE

Here I have added colour to all the details I have added such as the flowers and other visual symbols and signifiers, leaving the chess piece and the background white. The colour is evenly spread over the images with the exception of the knight image but I don't think it makes the chess piece stand out enough. It accentuates the details but makes the chess piece blend in to the background like it isn't really important. 

BLUE

I really do not like this set, I think he application of colour looks really badly considered. It does draw attention to the chess piece which is the focal point but there is nothing to tempt the eye away from this and allow it to explore the rest of the image. 

ORANGE

I think this is the set with the most potential. By only adding colour to the background, it makes the chess piece and all the little details stand out. It is the areas of the highest contrast that attract the most attention from the viewer so it makes sense to have these parts in pure black and white. 

GREEN

The colour on these are limited, the aim was to add colour to the border and one aspect of the image, this works for most of them but the border on the knight image can't have colour added to it and it looks strange to just have a strip of colour on only a few of the vulture's wing feathers. I don't really see this as a viable option. 

In conclusion, I am going to go with the idea in the set of orange pieces, just adding colour to the background to make the rest of the image stand out. As I said before, I have not decided on a colour yet but I do have a few ideas. I need to print my black and white images first and then it will be easy to experiment with colour on photoshop. I was thinking of having the same colour scheme for all prints but now I am debating whether to have a different second colour for each so they have the black and white in common but all have a different identity. Of course they would all still need to work together so this is something I will have to test out.